Second suit filed in bridge collapse

February 12, 1999 10:00am

JERUSALEM, Feb. 17 (JTA) — A second suit has been filed by a relative of the victims of last July’s bridge collapse at the Maccabiah Games in Israel. The husband of Elizabeth Sawicki filed a $3.5 million negligence suit in Jerusalem District Court against the Jewish state, the event’s organizers and the builders of the bridge. Four Australian athletes were killed and dozens of others injured when a pedestrian bridge collapsed at the Ramat Gan stadium during the Games’ opening ceremonies, plunging scores of people into the river below. Sawicki, 47, died of lung complications that hospital officials attributed to contaminants in the river water. A public commission found that the accident was caused by a chain of failures involving the bridge’s planning and construction. In December, five Israelis were charged with negligent homicide in connection with the collapse. The five included the contractors, the bridge’s engineer, the subcontractor and the head of the organizing committee for the Games.